


If Not For the Hovercar

by lovelyavengers (fandomsandxfiles)



Series: Jack Thompson Things [11]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: 2x10 Hollywood Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Love Confessions, Mild Peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25425415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsandxfiles/pseuds/lovelyavengers
Summary: It was the only way to close the rift, so you had to take matters into your own hands.
Relationships: Jack Thompson (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Jack Thompson Things [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120916
Kudos: 21





	If Not For the Hovercar

**Author's Note:**

> This was an anonymous request I received on tumblr. It can also be found on my tumblr writing blog [@fandomsandxfiles-writes](https://fandomsandxfiles-writes.tumblr.com/).

Howard Stark is very possibly the most ridiculous man you'd ever met. He was supposed to be helping you assemble part of the rift generator, so that you could all stop Whitney Frost from growing more powerful and bringing about the end of the world. But instead, he was flirting. 

Which you should have expected honestly, having worked for Howard as long as you have. When you were first hired, you were told that you'd last a few months as his secretary, because Howard was incredibly picky and difficult to please, and that most women just up and quit. Everyone was shocked when you developed a strong friendship with Howard, strong enough that he offered you a room in his house (free of charge) to move to Los Angeles with him. 

Another thing you should have expected when it came to Howard was that danger follows him everywhere. Last year, it was the weapons theft fiasco that brought you into contact with the SSR in the first place, now it was Zero Matter, and all the craziness that came with that. There hadn't been a quiet day in the house for god knows how long, and it was constantly bustling with people, from Howard's so-called production assistants to an actual ghost. The only thing that you might possibly consider a good thing with all of the mayhem that was your life was that you had gotten to meet Peggy last year when Howard's weapons were stolen, and you two had gotten very close. 

But back to the matter at hand, which was that you had absolutely no idea how this rift generator was supposed to be built, and here you were putting together the bulk of it. Howard was too busy playing Casanova to impress Rose, and you would rather die than ask Samberly for help. You managed to flag down Dr. Wilkes to help you a little, but you still weren't exactly sure that you were doing this right. You were working as smoothly as you could when the door opened suddenly. 

Your head shot up, reflexes ready, but there was no danger. It was just Thompson, who you had the pleasure of meeting last year in New York, when Howard's inventions were stolen. Thankfully, you were never a major suspect, but you were still wary of him because you knew he liked to be in control, and seen him knock heads with Peggy a few times. You were also there with Jarvis when he tried to fake Howard's confession to get Peggy out of SSR custody, and he was nothing but cold and rude to you and Jarvis. At the same time though, you felt drawn to him in a way that you couldn't quite understand. And asshole or not, you couldn't deny that he was attractive. 

"Look, I'm not a scientist," he said as everyone turned to look at him. "But I'm here to help." 

Peggy saw her opportunity and took it. "How about collecting the dinner orders?" she said, obviously leaving no room for argument. 

"You know what Marge?" Jack asked, before pausing as everyone waited for his response. He obviously wanting to bite back at Peggy, but he held his tongue. "I'm gonna do that for you. What do you guys want? There's got to be good takeout somewhere in this city." 

You turned back to what you were working on as people started to call out what they wanted. You weren't really that hungry, so you didn't say anything. You heard the door open again and footsteps walk away, assuming it was Jack to go place the takeout order. What you didn't hear was when the door opened again seconds later, and Jack walked back into the room. Everyone looked up again, but watched in silence as Jack made a beeline to where you were standing, and tapped you lightly on the shoulder. "Y/N," he said. "I never wrote down what you said you wanted." 

"Oh," you said, surprised that he would realize. "I didn't say anything, I'm not really that hungry." 

"Are you sure? Everyone else is getting something, and it looks like it's going to be a long night." You were silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "Come on. We're getting sandwiches, what do you want?" 

You didn't have the heart to argue with him any further, so you gave him your order and he left the room again. That's when you made the mistake of looking up for a split second, only to find every single person's eyes on you. "What?" you asked, confused. "What did I do?" 

No one answered. Peggy looked at you with an expression you couldn't read, and after a few seconds, everyone had turned back to what they were doing before. Bewildered, you did the same. 

***

The next morning, you tiredly loaded yourself into the car with Howard, Peggy, and Jarvis and headed over to the movie studio, where the rift was going to be opened. After everything was set up, Dr. Wilkes got everyone's attention. "Hold on! Safety meeting," he said. "From the Isodyne atomic tests, we know that moments before the rift closes, anything within a certain radius will levitate and instantly be drawn into it. For a rift this size, we've calculated that the no-go zone to avoid being sucked in is twenty feet from the generator. Once that rift begins to close, you don't want to be on the other side of this line."

Everyone was quiet for a moment. "Alright, I think we're ready," Peggy said.

"Let's see what she's got," Howard said as he turned on the machine, and the rift began to open. A strong wind blew from the rift and everyone looked up in awe. 

"Let's hope Frost gets here," Jack said as Daniel, Peggy, and him stepped away. 

It was up to you, Howard, Jarvis, and Dr. Wilkes to watch the rift and man the gamma cannon when Whitney showed up. Once everything was in order, Howard walked into one of the nearby buildings, returning with a set of golf clubs, golf balls, and tees. You groaned, knowing exactly what he was about to start doing. "Really Howard?" 

"What? We might be here for a while, so why pass up a perfect opportunity to practice?" 

You rolled your eyes as you looked at Jarvis, who shook his head. Howard took the first swing, missing spectacularly. You fought back a laugh. "Maybe you do need the practice." 

Howard turned around and gave you a look. "Didn't compensate for the wind." You weren't convinced. "Jarvis, set me up again." 

As Jarvis was placing a new golf ball on the tee, you heard the radio crackle to life. "Status check," Peggy said. "Any sign of Miss Frost Howard?" 

Dr. Wilkes grabbed the radio. "All's quiet," he said. "Though some of us may need to re-evaluate our priorities." 

"You're absolutely right Dr. Wilkes," Howard said as he took another swing. "Nobody cares about the long game." Another spectacular miss. "Damn! What am I doing wrong Jarvis?" 

Jarvis walked over and stood next to Howard, a solemn look on his face. "Sir, we are standing before an incomprehensible rip in the fabric of our world," he said before pausing. "Use a seven iron." 

Howard took the golf club and Jarvis set up another round before making his way back over to you. "When this is all over, do you think Miss Carter will return to New York immediately?" 

"I would assume so," you said. "I know that Chief Thompson has been trying to get her back in New York for most of this case. We might get a few visits in the future though?" 

"You're right," he said, looking at his feet. "I wonder if Chief Thompson would visit as well." 

You narrowed your eyes. Jarvis was fishing for something, but you didn't quite know what he was implying yet. "If he does visit LA, I doubt he would come to visit us, don't you think?" 

"Well, I'm not quite sure Miss L/N, as you two seem to have hit it off." 

You were speechless for several moments, opening and closing your mouth but no words came out. "Jarvis!" you finally managed to splutter out. "What on earth are you implying?" 

"Just that Chief Thompson has seemingly taken a special interest in you Miss L/N," he said, smiling. "It's not a bad thing." 

"Jarvis, I don't know what you've based that wild conclusion on, but Jack Thompson definitely has no interest in me," you said. 

"You really haven't noticed?" he asked you, eyebrows slightly raised. "Last night when he was taking the dinner orders, he sought you out when he realized you never asked for anything. I highly doubt he would have done that for anyone else in the room." 

"I don't know," you said. "I think you're just overthinking this Jarvis."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Miss L/N." 

*** 

When Daniel's voice came through the radio saying that Whitney was heading towards the rift, you sprang into action. Howard slowly lined up the cannon with Whitney as she walked closer and closer, and in the first bit of good luck you've had in a while, she stopped dead center before the rift, staring at it in awe. "I have a clear shot!" Howard yelled, as the gamma cannon began to power up. 

"Take it Howard!" Peggy yelled. 

Jarvis flipped the switch on the machine, and a golden beam left the barrel of the cannon, hitting Whitney Frost square in the back. You saw the zero matter pull away from her body and shoot back into the rift, exactly as you wanted it to happen. Once all the Zero Matter had been expelled from Whitney, she collapsed to the ground. Peggy, Daniel, and Jack approached her, and Jack tossed his gun to Daniel before cuffing Whitney and dragging her off, where an SSR agent was waiting in a car to take her into holding. 

That's when everything started to go wrong. The gamma cannon wasn't shutting off, and the power box seemed to have lost all its power, meaning that you had no way of shutting down the rift, which was very, very bad. Howard started to play with the controls on the box as Peggy walked over. "What is it?" she asked. 

"The radio controller's not responding," Jarvis said. Daniel walked over to hear what was going on, but Jack had not returned from taking Whitney to the car yet. You were getting progressively more concerned by the second.

"Can you fix it?" this was directed at Howard. 

"Working on it." 

"The rift is becoming unstable," Dr. Wilkes said worriedly. "We need to shut it down before we lose control of it." 

"What about the gamma cannon?" Peggy asked. You could tell she was worried too. 

"Still recharging," Dr. Wilkes said, shaking his head. 

"There is one other option," Howard said grimly. "But it's not good. We could use the manual override." 

"Well then use it," Peggy said, but you knew what the issue was. 

"The crank is on the device," Howard said grimly. "On the right hand side of the base." 

"So whoever shuts it down will be in the danger zone when the rift closes," Dr. Wilkes said. 

"Meaning they'll get sucked inside." 

"That's about the size of it." 

"I'll do it," Peggy said, getting ready to walk over. 

"Nope!" Howard said immediately. "I built it, badly as it turns out. It's my responsibility." 

"No, let me," Dr. Wilkes said. "I was sent back the first time, there's a chance it will happen again."

It was at this moment where you knew what you had to do. Slowly inching away from the group, they were all still offering themselves up. Finding a spare bit of rope that must have been either left from the movie set or setting up the gamma cannon, you tied one half to a lamp post (outside the 20 foot danger zone), and the other half around your waist. No one even noticed that you had stepped away until you started to walk towards the machine. 

"Y/N get back here!" Peggy said, immediately running over to you. 

Jack wasn't far behind. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" 

"Keep working on a way to shut it down!" you shouted over the growing winds that the rift was causing. "If you figure it out, I'll bail!" 

Peggy looked distressed, and so did Jack, but they didn't say anything else. The rope tied around you was just long enough for you to reach out and start to turn the crank, but it got more difficult the more your turned it. The rift was starting to close, but the wind was picking up. Soon, you were being pulled off the ground. You grabbed onto the machine's crank, holding on for dear life. The rest of the world was a blur, and you were too focused on keeping your hold to hear anything that anyone was saying. 

*** 

Jarvis had just ran off, and Jack was starting to worry more. Y/N was holding on to the rift generator for dear life, and there was nothing he could do about it. He could only watch in horror as you struggled to hang on. And when the rope came undone from around the pole, he dived for it without even thinking for a second, pulling it towards him with all his strength. _If you got sucked into the rift... no, he didn't want to think about that._

Someone grabbed his jacket, holding on and adding their strength. Jack didn't know who it was, and quite frankly he didn't care. He heard shouting and voices and guessed that Howard, Peggy, and Dr. Wilkes had also latched on and were trying to keep Y/N from being sucked into the rift. The wind was howling in his ears, he could barely hear himself think. He had one coherent thought in his brain: _save her_. 

Y/N was practically upside down now, and if someone didn't shut down that rift soon, she was going to be sucked in. He looked up at her, only to hear her yelling at him to let go of the rope. 

"No! Hold on!" he yelled, pulling even harder than before, if that was even possible. He heard the sound of the car horn, but he could barely hear anything after that. He heard Howard yell something, but he really didn't care what they did as long as it saved Y/N from being sucked into the rift. He focused the rest of his strength on keeping hold of the rope as best he could. 

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. Stark's hovercar to be exact. And he'd never quite believed that it could actually fly, at least not up until this point. Jack just hoped to god that he wasn't hallucinating when he saw the car get sucked into the rift. And it worked, the rift closed almost instantly, knocking everyone to the ground, Y/N the hardest. 

Jack immediately got up off the ground, passing Samberly, who was saying he fainted, and made a beeline over to where Y/N was laying on the ground. He hoped she wasn't dead. His hopes were answered when you coughed slightly and picked your head up. Not quite sure what he should do, he reached out and allowed you to grasp his hand so you could pull yourself up to your feet. You stumbled on your first steps, and he quickly grabbed your arm and placed it over his shoulder to support you. 

***

You barely remembered the rest of that day, but Jack didn't leave your side. He insisted on riding in the backseat of the car with you to Howard's, where Peggy practically had to kick him out of the house to get him to go back to his hotel and get some sleep, because they were supposed to be leaving for New York the next morning. 

You didn't expect to see Jack again, so when you looked through the window and saw him standing out on the porch the next morning, you were puzzled. "Did you leave something here?" you asked as you opened the door and let him inside.

"No, I uh, just wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday," he said. "You seemed really out of it yesterday." 

"I'm fine now," you said, giving him a smile. "I was just tired and worn out from all the excitement I guess."

"That's one word for it," he said, smiling back at you. 

"Jack?" you asked cautiously. "If I might ask, why are you so concerned?" His answer was only silence, like he couldn't find the words to answer your question, and then he mumbled something you couldn't hear. "Jack?" you asked gently. 

"I was worried about you," he said, going slightly pink. "God this is so embarrassing because you obviously don't feel the same way but I care about you, more than I should. And when I saw you hovering over the ground, the fact being that any moment you could slip and be sucked into an extra-dimensional rift, it scared the shit out of me. And I know we've only had a few interactions before now, but I feel drawn to you in some way." Now it was your turn to be silent, as your brain processed what he just said. "I'm sorry," he said, turning away from you. 

"Jack stop," you said, walking over to him. He turned to face you and you took his hand. "I feel drawn to you too." 

"Really?" his face looked like he was trying not to break into a grin at your confession. 

"Yes, really," you said. 

"I'm going to request a transfer to the LA SSR," he said suddenly.

"Jack!" you scolded. "You can't do that just because of me!"

"Why not? I almost lost you once yesterday and I don't plan on doing it again." 

"Because you're the chief of the New York agency!" you said. "You'd be taking a demotion if you transferred to LA, and I don't think I'm worth all the trouble." 

"Y/N," Jack said as he stepped closer to you, placing his hands on your cheeks and tilting your head up ever so slightly to look at him. You opened your mouth to say something, but he cut you off with a kiss, the best you've ever had. You kissed back immediately, your arms moving around his neck. When you finally broke apart, his smile was shining brighter than the sun. "You are absolutely worth 'all the trouble' as you say. And something's obviously going on between Peggy and Sousa, so maybe I can get him to agree to switch offices with me." 

"You think that you could convince Daniel to go back to New York?" 

"If Carter's there, he'll go anywhere."

"That's a pretty sure statement," you said, with your eyebrows raised. "What if you're wrong?" 

"I'm not wrong," was his response. "Because he feels the same way for Peggy as I do for you, and I'd move to Antarctica if that was the only way we could be together."

You could only smile as he pulled you into another kiss. 

_\- the end -_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Want to request your own Jack Thompson/Reader one shot?
> 
> You can find the link to the information post [here!](https://fandomsandxfiles-writes.tumblr.com/post/619198264196120576/fic-requests-as-of-right-now-im-taking-fic)


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